Liberal has harsh words for B.C. Liberal budget

Liberal has harsh words for B.C. Liberal budget

Is the B.C. Liberal party one big happy family?

Er, it appears not.

The Premier, Christy Clark, brought down the latest budget on Tuesday. It could be her last, as polls continue to indicate her government will be swept aside in May in favour of a new one led by the NDP’s Adrian Dix. Clark has been trying to win back voters’ favour, but the budget had a curious way of going about it: lots of new taxes.

B.C.’s Liberal government says it can make good on its promise to deliver surplus budgets this year and beyond, by hiking corporate and personal income taxes, selling off unused real estate and ratcheting down planned spending increases, ambitious measures described in a pre-election budget program that provincial finance minister Mike de Jong calls “plausible and achievable.”

Presenting his government’s new budget and three-year fiscal plan on Tuesday, Mr. de Jong described plans to win over skeptics and “fill the gap” between-billion-dollar deficits and a $197-million surplus he projects for fiscal 2013/14. Under his plan, the surplus would more than double by 2015, to $460-million.

While the budget exercise is academic–B.C.’s legislative assembly will not have enough time to approve of all measures before the May 2013 provincial election–Mr. de Jong’s proposals do reveal the direction in which his party would take the province, were it re-elected. There are no major spending cuts outlined in his budget. More than anything, his pledge to fix the books depends on raising money.

There would be a higher corporate tax rate, an increase in income taxes for salaries over $150,000 (MLAs, conveniently, make less than that), an increased tobacco tax, an increase in health care premiums (another 4% on top of this year’s 4%) …

Phew. In order to push through a tough budget like this, the Liberals would need to be strong, united and willing to fight. Unfortunately, they’re not. One of the harshest denunciation’s of Clark’s plan was Martyn Brown, chief of staff to former premier Gordon Campbell. Brown told the CBC the document would have the NDP “jumping for joy.”

Brown, a longtime Liberal insider in B.C., said the budget had done the NDP’s tax-raising “dirty work” for them.

“The budget basically conceded the tax turf to the NDP,” Brown said.

“I think the only ones jumping for joy today, really, will be the NDP because, effectively, this government has done the dirty work of saying it needs to increase corporate taxes, it needs to increase personal taxes on higher income earners, it’s increasing MSP premiums.”

He said the Liberals basically came up with the very tax agenda that the New Democrats had been suggesting.

“And most of that won’t take effect until next January, a year from now, so you won’t feel it in this election year but you sure will feel it in the years to come,” said Brown.

Brown also predicted the budget will be dead before it has much chance to be enacted.

“It’s not going to matter. This budget won’t see the light of day no matter who gets elected. They’re going to have to introduce a new budget. All the assumptions will be re-evaluated in May and all of the spending will be re-evaluated in May. So really, this is a lot to do about nothing.”

Oh well. They should have lots of time to make up after the election in May.